Question

    Essentially, everyone has two ages. a chronological（按时间计算的）age, how old the calendar says you are, and a biological age, basically the age at which your body functions as it compares to average fitness or health levels.

“Chronological age isn’t how old we really are. It’s merely a number,” said Professor David Sinclair at Harvard University. “It is biological age that determines our health and ultimately our lifespan. We all age biologically at different rates according to our genes, what we eat, how much we exercise, and what environment we live in. Biological age is the number of candles we really should be blowing out. In the future, with advances in our ability to control biological age, we may have even fewer candles on our birthday cake than the previous one.”

To calculate biological age, Professor Levine at Yale University identified nine biomarker(生物标志) that seemed to be the most influential on lifespan by a simple blood test. The numbers of those markers, such as blood sugar and immune(免疫的) measures, can be put into the computer, and the algorithm（算式;算法）does the rest.

Perhaps what’s most important here is that these measures can be changed. Doctors can take this information and help patients make changes to lifestyle, and hopefully take steps to improve their biological conditions. “I think the most exciting thing about this research is that these things aren’t set in stone,” Levine said. “People can be given the information earlier and take steps to improve their health before it’s too late.”

Levine even entered her own numbers into the algorithm. She was surprised by the results. “I always considered myself a very healthy person. I’m physically active; I eat what I consider a fairly healthy diet. But I did not find my results to be as good as I had hoped they would be. It was a wake-up call,” she said.

Levine is working with a group to provide access to the algorithm online so that anyone can calculate their biological age, identify potential risks and take steps to improve their own health in the long run. “No one wants to live an extremely long life with a lot of chronic（慢性的）diseases,”

Levine said. “By delaying the development of mental and physical functioning problems, people can still be engaged in society in their senior years. That is the ideal we should be pursuing.”

1.By saying “we may have even fewer candles on our birthday cake than the previous one” in Para. 2, the author means   .

A.we don’t have to celebrate our birthday every year

B.we are chronologically older than last year

C.we might be less happy than the previous year

D.we may be biologically younger than the year before

2.According to Prof. Levine, what is the most exciting thing about her research?

A.The measures are not fixed.

B.Health services can be set up.

C.The problems are not that serious.

D.The research results are written in stone.

3.What does the author want to tell us by Levine’s example in Para. 5?

A.It is necessary to change our diet regularly.

B.The test results may give us wrong information.

C.Waking up early in the morning is good for our fitness.

D.The algorithm can reveal our potential health problems.

4.The ultimate goal of Levine’s research is to   .

A.free people from chronic diseases

B.work out a solution to genetic problems

C.keep people socially active even in old age

D.provide people with access to scientific theory

Answer

1.D

2.A

3.D

4.C

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。基本上，每个人都有两个年龄：一个是实际年龄；一个是生理 年龄。生理年龄决定了我们的健康，最终决定了我们的寿命。

1.细节理解题。根据第二段中的 In the future, with advances in our ability to control biological age, we may have even fewer candles on our birthday cake than the previous one.可知在未来，随着我们在控制生物年龄方面的进步，我们的生日蛋糕上的蜡烛可能比先前的还要少”,蜡烛代表着年龄，蜡烛变少意味着我们在生理上可能比前一年更年轻”，所以选 D

2.细节理解题。根据第四段中的 I think the most exciting thing about this research is that these things aren’t set in stone…People can be given the information earlier and take steps to improve their health before it’s too late.可知，这项研究最令人兴奋的地方在于人们可以采取措施来改善自己的健康，这些措施不是固定不变的，所以选 A

3.推理判断题。根据第五段中可知 Levine在算法中输入了自己的数据。 她对结果感到惊讶。 “我一直认为自己是一个非常健康的人。 我身体活跃； 我吃了我认为比较健康的饮食。 但是我发现我的结果没有我希望的那么好。 这是一个警钟，”她说。Levine以为自己很健康，但算法告诉她她的身体其实存在一些问题，所以作者是通过Levine来证明这个算法可以揭示我们潜在的健康问题，故选D项。

4.细节理解题。根 据 最 后 一 段 中 的 By delaying the development of mental and physical functioning problems, people can still be engaged in society in their senior years. That is the ideal we should be pursuing.可知，他们的最终目标是让人们在年老的时候，依旧可以积极地进行社会生活，所以选 C